Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1923 1921

Page 4 Text:

PRESTO
May 19, 1923
tisement. I have noticed several notable business-paper advertisements of this kind
in recent months.
The American Music Trade Weekly
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY AT 407 SOUTH DEAR-
BORN STREET, OLD COLONY BUILDING, CHICAGO, ILL.
Editors
C. A. DANIELL and FRANK D. ABBOTT
Telephones, Local and Long Distance, Harrison 234. Private Phones to all De-
partments. Cable Address (Commercial Cable Co.'s Code), "PRESTO," Chicago.
Entered as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1896, at the Post Office, Chicago, Illinois,
under Act of March 3, 1879.
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1; Foreign, $4. Payable in advance. No extra
charge in United States possessions. Cuba and Mexico.
Address all communications for the editorial or business departments to PRESTO
PUBLISHING CO., 407 So. Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
Advertising Rates:—Five dollars per Inch (13 ems pica) for single insertions.
Complete schedule of rates for standing cards and special displays will be furnished
on request. The Presto does not sell Its editorial space. Payment Is not accepted for
articles of descriptive character or other matter appearing in the news columns. Busi-
ness notices will be indicated by the word "advertisement" In accordance with the
Act of August 24, 1912.
Photographs of general trade interest are always welcome, and when used, if of
special concern, a charge will be made to cover cost of the engravings.
Rates for advertising in Presto Year Book Issue and Export Supplements of
Presto will be made known upon application. Presto Year Book and Export issues
have the most extensive circulation of any periodicals devoted to the musical in-
strument trades and industries in all parts of the world, and reach completely and
effectually all the houses handling musical instruments of both the Eastern and West-,
em hemispheres.
Presto Buyers' Guide is the only reliable index to the American Pianos and
Player-Pianos, it analyzes all instruments, classifies them, gives accurate estimates
of their value and contains a directory of their manufacturers.
Items of news and other matter of general interest to the music trades are in-
cited and when accepted will be paid for. All communications should be addressed to
Presto Publishing Co., 407 So. Dearborn Street. Chicago, III.
SATURDAY, MAY 19, 1923
PRESTO CORRESPONDENCE
IT IS NOT CUSTOMARY WITH THIS PAPER TO PUBLISH REGU-
LAR CORRESPONDENCE FROM ANY POINTS. WE, HOWEVER,
HAVE RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVES IN NEW YORK, BOSTON,
SAN FRANCISCO, PORTLAND, CINCINNATI, INDIANAPOLIS, MIL-
WAUKEE AND OTHER LEADING MUSIC TRADE CENTERS, WHO
KEEP THIS PAPER INFORMED OF TRADE EVENTS AS THEY HAP-
PEN. AND PRESTO IS ALWAYS GLAD TO RECEIVE REAL NEWS
OF THE TRADE FROM WHATEVER SOURCES ANYWHERE AND
MATTER FROM SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS, IF USED, WILL BE
PAID FOR AT SPACE RATES. USUALLY PIANO MERCHANTS OR
SALESMEN IN THE SMALLER CITIES, ARE THE BEST OCCA-
SIONAL CORRESPONDENTS, AND THEIR ASSISTANCE IS INVITED.
ADVERTISING INFORMATION
Forms close promptly at noon every Thursday. News matter for
publication should be in not later than eleven o'clock on the same
day. Advertising copy should be in hand before Tuesday, five p. m.,
to insure preferred position. Full page display copy should be in
hand by Monday noon preceding publication day. Want advs. for cur-
rent week, to insure classification, must be at office of publication not
later than Wednesday noon.
ADVERTISING ADVERTISING
Last week's Presto contained an illustrated advertisement of the
Gulbransen'-Dickinson Co., which was a fac-simile of a page display
in the Saturday Evening" Post. Not long" ago a page similarlarly
drawing attention to the advertising of the Q R S Music Co. appeared
in this paper. And there have been other instances of the same kind
of enterprise on the part of large music industries in their publicity
departments. And this phase of publicity enterprise was recently
discussed at length by a writer in Printers' Ink, in a way which must
interest the piano trade.
The Printers' Ink contributor was Mr. John Allen Murphy. And,
while his subject did not directly apply to pianos, it perfectly fits the
methods of the industries whose display pages have appeared in
Presto for the purpose of doing just what Mr. Murphy commends as
one of the most forceful plans for announcing a manufacturer's ad-
vertising campaign. An extract from the Printers' Ink article follows:
What is the best way for a manufacturer to present his advertising plan to his
dealers? With the number of advertisers constantly growing, this is a question of
steadily increasing importance.
Most assuredly consumer advertising should be promoted to the trade in some
way. An advertising campaign is handicapped unless it receives the co-operation
of distributors. The campaign itself is not completely rounded out if it is not built
up from the trade side also.
Business-paper copy, itself, is now widely used as a means of telling dealers about
the advertiser's consumer drive. As a matter of fact, this is probably the most in-
teresting development in the subject about which I am writing. Certainly there is
no more appropriate place for a dealer announcement than in a trade-paper adver-
The point to which Mr. Murphy's article gives emphasis is that
the publicity designed to appear in the consumer medium carries the
very suggestions needed by the trade for the purpose of influencing
local sales. And, still more, that the manufacturer who invests in
costly magazine publicity presents convincing evidence of the deter-
mination to help the retailers by building reputation for his products
from which the merchants everywhere must reap the benefits.
It is what the advertising manufacturer has actually done that
counts for the retailer, and not what he promises to do. If the page
displays in the trade papers are actual reproductions from the ad-
vertisements which have appeared in the consumer mediums, of great
circulation, there is the indisputable proof that the manufacturer is
working, and investing, for the further profit of his customers in the
trade. And this seems to apply with especial emphasis to the piano
trade.
General advertising campaigns entail large investments. Not a
great many of the musical instrument industries have embarked in
it. Still fewer have found that it paid as well as the plan of direct
helps to the local dealers. But as long as the public rests great faith
in the things that are of universal renown, and buys because of sus-
picion of the unknown, pianos must be advertised whether in a general
way, designed to build interest and demand, or by the enthusiasm
of the local dealers whose publicity efforts are largely by personal
introduction.
And the large advertisers gain both influences at once, because
they attract the great public by means of the consumer mediums, and
reinforce it by showing to the dealers what they are doing for them
by means of the trade paper reproductions of the fulfilled promises
which cannot be denied.
There can be no doubting Thomas among the distributors and
salesmen who see in the trade papers the fac-similes of page displays
which have appeared broadcast in the consumer mediums. It is a
modern development of the work of the publicity agencies, and a very
large one.
THE SHOW FEATURE
The promise is for a big convention. It is certain that the "com-
mercial" end of it will exceed anything in the history of past conven-
tions. And it is interesting to note that among the piano industries
which have entered for displays are some which have heretofore
seemed apathetic in such matters. And they, in a number of in-
stances, come from the East as if in a determined effort to capture, or
regain, lost momentum in the West. It is apparent that in the ag-
gregate the display of pianos will be larger than at any of the earlier
conventions.
In this matter of exhibitions, the music convention in Chicago
will show a peculiar contrast to the famous "no-commercialism"
meeting at Detroit a good many years back. At that time, the man-
agement went so far as to cause the Pontchartrain to forbid pianos
being brought into the hotel. The campaign against displays was so
strong that only a few manufacturers disregarded it, and they had
displays at smaller hotels and private rooms.
This time the piano manufacturers have engaged every foot of
space possible at the Drake Hotel, and a number of important indus-
tries have secured rooms in other places, the Great Northern Hotel
having some prominent ones. And the two hotels are a mile distant
one from the other.
A feature of the exhibits during the Chicago convention will be
the element of novelty. There will be a number of novelties in the
way of playerpiano invention, or improvement, and some entirely
new lines of pianos will be displayed.
Two of these will be at the Great Northern, where the Jesse
French & Sons Piano Co. will have its new "Dulcitone," and the Wal-
tham Piano Co. will introduce the new "Waverly" of Milwaukee
manufacture. The Schiller Piano Co. will have its new instrument,
based upon the Bauer method of acoustics and construction, at the
Drake.
The number of player actions shown during the convention will
also give character to that branch of the industry. The Sigler action
will be at the Great Northern and the "Adapto," of the Lindenberg
Piano Co., will also offer itself to trade attention. It would necessi-
tate a re-publication of the long list of exhibitors, which recently
appeared in Presto to give any adequate idea of the extent of the
"commercialism" which will mark the June convention.
The exhibits will be instructive to the dealers, and therefore will
be a very important part of the occasion. The only possible deterrent
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
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Page 5 Text:

May 19, 1923
PRESTO
may be the brevity of the four days' meeting, but the balance of the
week, after the official sessions close, may be made a continual round
of pleasure and investigation. It will be a big week, and the promise
of a larger attendance could not be better.
SEWING MACHINES AND PIANOS
As a reason for two recent failures in the sewing machine in-
dustry, changed conditions in domestic life is given. It» is said that,
because in days past the average housewife made her own house
garments, her own working dresses, aprons and other things, the
sewing machine was an indispenable part of the domestic equipment,
whereas today little home sewing is done. The department stores
now sell the products of "plain sewing" for less than the material can
be bought in small quantities. The housewife is thus relieved of the
task and the "Song of the Shirt" no longer applies.
And so, with the lost demand for sewing-machines, two of the
largest industries in that line—the Davis and the Home—have passed
away with millions in liabilities. The item is of almost direct inter-
est to the music trade because a large proportion of the small-com-
munity piano dealers have also carried sewing machines. Years ago
some of the most ambitious piano manufacturers had graduated
from the sewing machine business. It was so of Mr. Geo. P. Bent,
of "Crown" fame, and Edmund Cote, whose Fall River piano indus-
try at one time played a large place. Hundreds of retail piano men
are still selling sewing machines, though the number is small as
compared with earlier days. Today there is, we believe, but one
sewing machine trade paper left—a very significant fact.
But the interesting situation, with respect to the decline of the
sewing machine, so far as concerns the piano trade, is that the causes
given for its decline are of a kind to create an increasing call for the
instruments of music. For, as home drudgery is eliminated, the time
required for the more elevating and recreational enjoyment increases.
The homes which w r ere, of necessity, given over to the old-time
drudgery, are now brighter by reason of modern emancipation and
progress. Where once it was common to hear the hum of the sewing
machine, we now hear the glad music of the piano. The army of
salesmen who used to ring door-bells and tell of the "single stitch,"
or the "double stitch," attachments, may now talk about the latest
playerpiano development and the reproducing grand.
Whatever widens the time for more music in the home helps
INVITES DEALERS TO SEE
SCHILLER SUPER=GRAND
Special Show of the Instrument During Convention
Week is Announced.
The greetings of the Schiller Piano Company, 1932
Republic Building, Chicago, is conveyed in a hand-
some announcement card mailed to the trade. It
directs attention to the new Schiller Super-Grand
piano and is particularly addressed to prospective
visitors to the forthcoming convention:
"You are most cordially invited to inspect the
marvelous creation, the Schiller Super Grand without
qualification, the last word.
"The wonderful Bauer patented construction has
been perfectly co-ordinated with the Schiller piano,
into an instrument of real artistic value, and tre-
mendous commercial possibilities. The most wonder-
fully toned grand piano in the world."
PIANO DEPARTMENT IS
ENLARGED BY TEXAS FIRM
Horton & Smith Piano Company Give Further
Evidences of Its Progressiveness.
The new salesroom added to the third floor piano
suite of the Horton & Smith Piano- Company, Hous-
ton, Tex., is completed and plans are being made
for opening still another, according to an announce-
ment made by H. W. Horton, president of the firm.
The original salesroom, arranged when Mr. Horton
became head of the store last November, soon became
inadequate and an additional space was added. This
has been furnished as a display room for grand pianos
and reproducing pianos. Double doors between the
old and new rooms give a sense of space which is
further enhanced by the furniture arrangement and
decorative scheme.
In addition to these improvements a larger room
has been added to the suite, and this is to be furnished
later in the same attractive style as the parlor for
along the world's happiness. The decline of the sewing machine is
not a sign of a lost industry. It is a change in that industry's direc-
tion. The sewing is done on a larger scale, and the opportunities for
buying the product of the automatic "stitch, stitch, stitch" have been
so multiplied as to render the "sewing at once with a double thread,
a shroud as well as a shirt" a thought of primitive barbarism.
The piano is an instrument of progress and as the world advances
the greater should be the need of the instrument of music. The
causes of sewing machine decline in the domestic life presents an
undeniable argument in favor of the continued need of the piano in
all of its forms of development.
A raging movie picture scene discloses a "little old piano" as a
part of the "properties." But any experienced eye in the audience
can plainly see that the instrument is a piano case melodeon, or a
modern writing desk masquerading as the "little old piano."
* * *
Prof. Ogburn, of Columbia University, has figured it out that
the population of New York City will be about 100,000,000 in another
hundred years. Who is going to make all the pianos to supply so
many homes? And in so short a time, too.
* * *
As long as the splendid name of Estey remains associated with
reed organs it can not be said that the instruments which once led
in popular demand are of the past. And the Estey Organ Company
is a very much alive industry.
* * *
Radio supplanted the brass band at a celebration near London,
England. An 8-foot antenna on top the stadium did it and the man-
agement was delighted. But the London Musicians' Union has not
yet been heard from.
* * *
Celluloid chemistry is a new branch of science. It is expected
to "solve many problems of industry." It did that for the piano
years ago, and its product is now almost forgotten in this connection.
* * *
The music tax has been lifted from radio. Will it continue on
the music roll and the little movie orchestra?
grand and reproducing pianos. It will also provide
for a small repair and tuning shop.
The second floor of the store is given over to sales-
rooms for talking machines and the first floor
to talking machine booths and display of the
leading piano styles. The office of the manager is on
the mezzanine.
Robert Smith has charge of the talking machine
department; John McCleary has charge of the piano
department; Fred Warn is head of the auditing
department, and G. V. Gaines is the credit man.
NEW HEAD OF SALES.
Dan Pagenta was recently elected vice-president
and general salesmanager of the H. G. Johnson Piano
Mfg. Co., of Bellevue, la. Mr. Pagenta will direct
the sales efforts of the Bellevue organization from
the Chicago office, located at 20 West Jackson boule-
vard. This end of the business was formerly directed
from the home office at Bellevue, la. The H. G.
Johnson Co. specializes in one style of instrument,
a four-foot, five inch case made in both the straight
and player styles.
BUYS BOSCHEN-SMITH CO.
J. H. Williams, president of the United Piano Corp.,
New York, has purchased the business of the
Boschen-Smith Piano Co., Baltimore, Md., and has
given the ownership and management of the business
over to his son, Edwin S. Williams. The business
was established when J. H. Williams left Baltimore
to become president of the United Piano Corp. in
New York. It occupies the building which formerly
housed the Knabe Warerooms, Inc., of which Mr.
Williams was at one time president.
HONORS W. OTTO MEISSNER.
W. Otto Meissner, president of the Meissner Piano
Co., Milwaukee, was elected president of the Music
Supervisors National Conference at the annual meet-
ing held recently in Cleveland, O. Twenty-five hun-
dred delegates attended in a five-day session. With
the aid of the Meissner piano, the "little piano with
the big tone", held a choral recital in which 600
supervisors took part.
ANNOUNCES STAG DINNER
FOR SEEBURG DEALERS
Informal Affair at Edgewater Beach Hotel Tuesday,
June 5, Is Promise of Enjoyment.
The J. P. Seeburg Piano Company, manufacturers
unified pipe organs, automatic instruments and player-
pianos, 1510 Dayton street, Chicago, will give a
stag dinner to dealers at the Edgewater Beach Hotel,
Tuesday, June 5, at 7:45 P. M. This date is an open
night at the convention, thus no interference with
the convention program. The dinner will be stag
and informal.
In the invitation mailed this week this is said:
"We want you to be sure to attend because we shall
have interesting round-table discussions by success-
ful Seeburg dealers, which means that you and we
will learn something. You will benefit your pocket-
book as well as appetite by being there. The affair
will be very informal and is gotten up so that we
can become better acquainted and learn what the
other fellow is doing and how he does it.
"We have chartered special motor busses to take
us from the Drake to the Edgewater Beach Hotel.
This is the prettiest drive in Chicago, taking us for
a half-hour ride through beautiful Lincoln Park and
Chicago's famous Gold Coast. The ride alone with-
out the good things at the end would be worth while.
We will assemble promptly at 6:30 P. M. at our dis-
play exhibit, Mezzanine 16, at the Drake and leave
from there in the busses at 6:45 P. M. We count
on you to be with us. Remember the time and date!
"After the dinner we will transport you back by
motor busses to the Drake, another beautiful ride.
''Please don't disappoint us. Make it a point to
be there. Remember this will be stag and informal.
We will have a good time and learn much, each from
the other. We count on you absolutely so don't
fail us."
L E E S. JONES,
Sales Manager.
The offices of the Hallet & Davis Piano Co.,
Boston, are being moved this week to the new quart-
ers on Boylston street in the Copley Square district.
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/

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